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Thursday, March 9, 2017

Browns finally upgrade offensive line

The wheels of progress churned furiously at Browns
headquarters Thursday in Berea and at least one of their target areas in free agency was distinctly
improved.

After shocking many in the world of pro football by trading
for Houston quarterback Brock Osweiler, they worked on improving the offensive
line on the first day of free agency.

The offensive line, the weakest area (not even arguably)on that side
of the ball last season, was upgraded with the free-agent signings of center JC
Tretter and guard Kevin Zeitler and the awarding of a five-year contract extension to
incumbent left guard Joel Bitonio.

But the talent upgrade along the line comes with a red-flag warning. Tretter and
Bitonio are injuries waiting to happen.

Bitonio has played in only 15 of the club’s 32 games the
last two seasons due to injuries. Tretter, after three-injury filled seasons in
Green Bay, finally nailed down a starting job last season only to suffer a
season-ending knee injury in game seven. He has missed 33 games in four
seasons.

While Bitonio and Tretter are highly regarded, they are
clearly gambles in a sport that is considered more collision than contact. The
Browns are gambling heavily those two will remain healthy for an entire season.

The Zeitler signing, which makes him the highest-paid guard
in the National Football League, is a 10-strike, although the five-year, $60
million contract is somewhat steep for a player at his position. What makes him
valuable is his ability to remain healthy. Outside of left tackle Joe Thomas,
who has never missed a snap due to injury, the offensive line was extremely brittle
last season.

In trading for Osweiler, a second-round pick in the 2018 college
draft and a sixth-rounder this year for a fourth-rounder this year, the Browns
have gone the analytic route. The chances of him ever donning the Seal Brown
and Orange are slim.

The catch? Osweiler is scheduled to make $16 million this
season and the Browns, who have about $100 million in salary cap space, can
afford to absorb that obscene amount of money for someone who is clearly not
worth it.

Osweiler nailed the big money when he signed a four-year,
$72 million contract with the Texans after a strong showing while filling in
for the injured Peyton Manning in Denver in 2015.

The question is how long will he be a part of the his new team.
Rumors strongly suggest the Browns, who essentially bought a third second-pick
in 2018 for $16 million, will use Osweiler as trade bait in order to get out
from under his contract. Reportedly, they would be willing to eat half of the
$16 million.

If no one steps up and is willing to dance with the Browns on
Osweiler, they could cut him, which would amount to a salary dump, similar to what
they do in the NBA when a team trades a high-salary player just to trim the
payroll.

The Texans made the move to clear the monetary decks in an attempt to persuade quarterback Tony Romo, who was released by the Dallas Cowboys, to take over their offense. It is remotely possible the Browns decide to keep
Osweiler for the 2017 season if they cut Robert Griffin III and the Jimmy Garoppolo
deal – the oft-rumored deal that won’t die – never materializes.

Browns boss man Sashi Brown seemed more excited about
obtaining the second pick than Osweiler. “We’re really excited,” he said in a
news release. “Draft picks are extremely important to our approach of building
a championship caliber football team.”

If that’s the case, then, why do rumors persist that Brown
and his minions will make every effort to trade for Tom Brady’s backup in New
England and surrender high draft picks in the process? Sounds like a
contradiction.

At the risk of being repetitious, the untested Garoppolo is
not worth anything more than a third-round pick. The Patriots no doubt will
hold out for nothing less than at least one first-rounder, maybe more. The
desperate Browns would be foolish to cave and meet whatever ridiculous demands
the Patriots make.

It would appear Cleveland is far from through tapping into
the free-agent market. As owner Jimmy Haslam III says, his team will be
“appropriately aggressive” in an effort to make certain there will be no repeat
of the 2016 season.

On deck, perhaps as early as Friday, the Browns are expected
to sign veteran wide receiver Kenny Britt to a multi-year deal. The 6-3 wideout
had a career season with the Los Angeles Rams last season, catching 68 passes
for 1,002 yards and five touchdowns.

In his first seven seasons with Tennessee and the Rams,
Britt never caught more than 48 passes and never recorded more than 775 yards
in a season. He scored nine of his 30 career touchdowns in his second season.

Meanwhile, Terrelle Pryor is testing the free agent waters
with several interested teams and most likely will not be back in Cleveland.
He is seeking more money than the Browns apparently are willing to part with and
someone out there probably will meet his demands.

If the big wide receiver becomes a former Cleveland Brown,
that aspect of the offense will take a significant hit. Even though he played
just one full season with Cleveland after switching to the position from
quarterback, he is a more polished receiver than Britt.

Stay tuned. Based on Thursday’s action, we will see more
moves as the Browns make a concerted effort to stockpile as many draft choices,
an art at which they have become quite good, as they can.

Only one problem. The wisdom shown with the selections of those choices, at least
based on how last season’s class panned out, seems to be missing. Of the 14
picks in last year’s lottery, only one, defensive end Emmanuel Ogbah, made
significant contributions.

One in 14 does not bode well for the future of a team that
has seven picks in the first four rounds of the next two drafts.